Storage unit victim identified, daughter arrested

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Nearly four months after remains were found inside a Lexington storage unit, an arrest has been made in connection to the case. In January, police found the remains at Econo Self Storage on James Court off Winchester Road.

The victim has been identified as Luther Broughton. His daughter, Judith Maria Broughton, 49, is now accused of stealing $150,667 of her father's Social Security Retirement Insurance Benefits.

A Texas grand jury indicted Judith Broughton on a federal felony charge of theft of public money, property, or receipts. According to the indictment, she stole the money from November 1997 until August 2011.

U.S. marshals arrested her April 10 near Terlingua, Texas. She is in the West Texas Detention Center without bond.

We've been looking over federal court documents filed earlier this month in the case against Judith Broughton. From those we have learned the Social Security Administration opened a case to check into Luther Broughton in 2011, as part of a program the administration uses to check into anyone over the age of 100.

Through the course of that investigation, it was discovered that Social Security checks for Luther Broughton were mailed to a P.O. Box owned by Judith Broughton from 1997 to 2006. From 2006 on, direct deposits were made from Social Security into an account that Judith Broughton had access to at a Texas bank.

Judith Broughton has also been ordered to submit samples of her handwriting to investigators to help them determine if she forged her father's signature to collect his social security.

Investigators in Texas are not saying how long Luther Broughton has been dead or how his remains ended up in Kentucky.

Lexington Police have turned their case over to the Commonwealth Attorney's office.

The Social Security Administration's investigation also found that Judith Broughton's mother has been missing for more than a month and a search is now underway.

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